


"The Origin of Ms. Incredible"

by AXEe



Category: Original Work
Genre: 1960s, Aliens, Atlantis, Gen, Inspired by Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers), Metafiction, Silver Age, Story within a Story, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-07 20:53:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12849309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AXEe/pseuds/AXEe
Summary: Incredible Tales magazine, publisher of such famed works such as ‘Ms. Incredible & the Invaders from Mars!’ and ‘Ms. Incredible vs. The Terror From Above’, now presents the stunning, epic origin story of the Mistress of Might.  Penned in vivid detail by Ms. Incredible’s own creator—and famed science fiction author—D.K. Isaacs, this lost manuscript will provide the answers to questions that every Ms. Incredible fan has been asking for nearly forty years.  Including who are the ‘Elentites’ and how they’re linked to our heroine? How did Professor Tompkins end up in his disembodied state? Where did 'Indy the Incredi-pup’ come from? And, most importantly, it finally reveals the true identity of Ms. Incredible’s arch-nemesis, Dr. Spectra!





	1. Foreword--About the Author

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! More original works from me! This time we're going slightly meta-fictional. Basically I had this idea about a superhero who's secret identity wrote fictionalized versions of her own heroics, originally I was going to make the character work for a comic book, but decided to go for the old fashioned sci-fi magazines because I like them, so there! :=).
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy :=)

******

'D.K. Isaacs' was the penname of 'Darleen Kern' who took her mother's maiden name of 'Isaacs' as part of her Nome de plume. The only child of Doris and Arthur Kern, Darleen Kern was born in upstate New York, growing up in a house filled with readers. At a time when radio was the most common form of entertainment, Darleen's parents would instead read to their daughter rather than listen to the radio.

**Creating Ms. Incredible**

In 1960, at the age of twenty-six, Darleen submitted a short story, _'Solar Odyssey'_ , to Incredible Tales magazine, not really expecting the story to be considered for publication. Not only was the story published, the magazine's editor, Ben Russell, offered her a job writing for the magazine ( _Solar Odyssey_ would later go on to win a Hugo Award for short fiction in 1970).

Accepting the offer, Darleen moved to New York City's Harlem neighborhood and began a lucrative career writing science-fiction stories under the alias of 'D.K. Isaacs', since at that time science-fiction was seen primarily as a male-oriented genre.

In 1963, after three years of work for Incredible Tales, Darleen hatched upon a new and different idea, submitting a story about a woman who discovers that she is in fact half-extraterrestrial and must defend the planet from being conquered by her extraterrestrial progenitors, using a colorful costume and a fanciful name to hide her true identity--then all aspects used by comic book superheroes.

Agreeing to give the idea a chance, her editor agreed, and _Ms. Incredible_ hit newsstands the following month. The story was a surprise hit and earned Kern dozens of accolades and spawned dozens of episodic sequels. Eventually, the stories became so popular that, in a radical departure from the industry standard, Incredible Tales began to publish a solo _Ms. Incredible_ magazine just to keep up with public demand.

**The Lost Origin Story**

Although the character of Ms. Incredible has since become a household name, many fans have been left to wonder at the numerous plot holes and unanswered questions. When the first story hit stands, Ms. Incredible is portrayed as an already established character in full control of her abilities, leading many fans to wonder if there was in fact some sort of 'lost origin story' that had been lost to history.

A recent search of the late-Ms. Kern's estate revealed that there was indeed a lost manuscript. According to the handwritten notes that accompany the text, it appears that Ms. Kern abandoned this story shortly after finishing it, apparently declaring it to be too convoluted, having _'too much backstory'_.

After a short legal debate, Ms. Kern's heirs have allowed us to reprint this story, unaltered, as Ms. Kern intended. It is our hope that fans of Ms. Incredible will enjoy it and enjoy the answers to their questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to Tor Books, between January and July of 2013, only thirty-seven percent (37%) of submissions ranging from fantasy and science fiction to horror and young adult, were made by women, and only twenty-two percent (22%) of those were in science fiction, compared to seventy-eight percent (78%) submitted by men for science fiction, and a grand total across every genre of sixty-three percent (63%) for men. We need to change this. Now.


	2. The Song of the Spheres

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! Welcome to Chapter Two of "The Origin of Ms. Incredible", now for those of you who are undoubtedly wondering what I'm thinking, I'm trying something different this time. I always where famous authors got their ideas from, you know? What inspired Tolkien? Or C.S. Lewis? Or, in this case, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby? And since most of my ideas come at odd hours and from the oddest places, I decided to explore that thought. So, here we'll have two characters, 'Darleen Kern/Ms. Incredible' and her creator 'D.K. Isaacs', so basically we'll see something happen to D.K. in the 'real world' which will inspire a plot point for Ms. Incredible.
> 
> Don't worry, it should make more sense as you read it, just keep in mind that all passages in **bold** are what's happening in the 'real world' and the non bold passages are what's happening in the story
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy and please direct any confusion to the comments section, I'll be happy to explain anything :=)

******

**New York City**  
The Lee Kirby Building  
1963

**D.K Isaacs stepped off the elevator on the fortieth floor of the Lee Kirby Building. Taking a right down the hall, she stopped at a door marked**

 **Incredible Tales magazine**

 **Stepping inside the office, nodded politely to her coworkers, most of whom were already engrossed in hammering out new stories for the magazine. Settling down before her typewriter, D.K. frowned as she suddenly drew a blank.**

**What would she write about? Most of the ideas suggested by the house illustrator had already been snapped up, leaving D.K. in the dust.**

**“Hey, that’s my briefcase you’re walking off with!” one of her coworkers suddenly exclaimed**

**Suddenly inspired, D.K. loaded a fresh sheet of paper in the machine and began typing…**

******

Darleen Kern paid the newspaper boy as she gathered her morning paper. Turning, she jerked back at a shout

“Stop! Stop! Stop that man! He’s a thief! Stop him!”

Darleen turned; gasping as a man suddenly collided with her, knocking her to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Scrambling to his feet, the man sprinted off down the street

“Oh god! Oh god!”

Another man, this one wearing some kind of heavy, bulky suit of some kind hurried over “help me! Quickly!” he pleaded as he frantically struggled to pick up what looked like a briefcase of some kind, which the other man had apparently dropped in his haste “I’m a scientist! find it! Find it please!” the man begged

“Find what?” Darleen asked

“The sphere! Hurry!” the man gasped, looking more and more frantic by the second

“The sphere?” Darleen echoed. A crackling buzz caught her attention and she turned to find a small, grapefruit-sized sphere sitting by her head, it was shimmering with a crackling, fiery glow and letting out a musical tone. Mesmerized, Darleen reached out for it

“No! DON’T—”

The man’s hand closed on her arm just as Darleen’s hand closed around the sphere. There was a brilliant flash of light and a deafening boom and then everything went dark and silent for Darleen…

******

Darleen sat up with a gasp, wincing as a sharp burning sensation briefly crackled along her skin

“Ma’am!”

A woman in a nurse’s uniform hurried over and eased her back down

“You’re all right,” she soothed “you’re at the hospital”

“Hospital?” Darleen asked, frowning. Then she remembered…the man….the briefcase…and that brilliant sphere. Shaking her head, Darleen looked up at the nurse in confusion “what happened?” she asked

“We’re not really sure,” the nurse admitted “looks like a gas explosion, at least that’s what the police are saying and they should know, shouldn’t they? They are the police after all,” she gave Darleen’s hand a squeeze “you got lucky, honey, only minor injuries, you’ll probably be able to go home later today. Is there anyone I can call for you? Husband?”

Darleen shook her head

“No, I, I live alone. Just a dog”

The nurse patted her hand

“That’s all right dear,” she soothed “we’ll get you home OK”

Still confused, Darleen nodded and allowed the nurse to ease her back down. In seconds she’d fallen asleep again, dreaming of flying above a strange city on the water…

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought :=)


End file.
